ATLANTA, Ga.- The Clayton College & State University track teams had their best performances of the season Saturday afternoon at the Emory Invitational, with the women's team placing eighth with 14 points, and the men finishing l0th with four points.
For the women,
Aidita Gibson turned in a pair of fourth place finishes and
Mary Schwerdt recorded a pair of fifths to lead the Lady Lakers to their best showing of the season In the 1,500-meter, Gibson (4:56.73) and Schwerdt (4:57.36) ran neck-and-neck to the finish line, while in the 800-meter, Gibson (2:22.65) narrowly edged Schwerdt (2:22.69) again for the back-to-back finish. Jan Trainor also had strong finishes for the Lady Lakers, placing 5th in the 400-meter (1:07.08) and 11th in the 800-meter (2:31.91).
"By far this was our best effort of the season, despite our small numbers," said head coach
Mike Mead. "Aidita, Jan, and Mary scored 14 points in just three events in the women's team scoring. Just imagine the points if we have had a full team!"
On the men's side,
Tye Walker ran a season-best 4:13.09 in the 1,500-meter to finish fourth, while
Steven Parrish (4:20.49) fllowed with a personal-best to come in seventh. Walker (16:56.59) and
Travis Robertson (17:49.89) placed seventh and l3th. respectively, in the 5,000-meter for the Lakers. In the 800-meter, Parrish turned in another personal-best with a time of 2:04.82 to place ninth, while
Levi Myers (2:11.03) finished 13th.
"Steven had the best effort of the day, running personal-bests in the 1,500 and the 800," said Mead. "Tye challenged in the 1,500 and Travis put on an explosive kick in the 5,000 and nearly caught Kennesaw State's No. 2 cross country runner at the end! Levi made his college track debut with his first-ever 800."
Clayton State returns to the track Satnrday at the Oglethorpe Invitational.
"We're finally beginning to race," explained Mead. "The surprising thing is that we still have a bunch of room for improvement, and we have three meets left. Coach (Hugh) Toro and myself look for some great times to come between now and May 2nd.
